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OPINION / FINE PRINT —
As last Tuesday’s Coast Guard press release explained, “Detecting and interdicting narco-terrorism on the high seas involves significant interagency and international coordination. U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM’s) Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATFS), based in Key West, Florida, detects and monitors both aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs. Once interdiction becomes imminent, the law enforcement phase of the operation begins, and control of the operation shifts to the U.S. Coast Guard throughout the interdiction and apprehension.”
I should point out that SOUTHCOM’s JIATFS is a Defense Department (DoD) command that uses the capabilities of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, allies and partner nations to detect, monitor, and support interdiction of illicit narcotics movements in the air and maritime throughout the Western Hemisphere – meaning both the Pacific and Caribbean areas.
Let me emphasize, SOUTHCOM directs what takes place both in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean areas.
In the case of last June’s narco-trafficker speedboat in the above photo, the boat was initially detected by a U.S. Navy maritime patrol aircraft. Then the Hamilton’s own Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron aircrew took over and provided airborne tactical support. Among their special weapons are helicopter-mounted, long-range rifles that can hit and disable the engines mounted at the rear of narco-trafficker speedboats. The result is the speedboats in the eastern Pacific are being halted, the crews arrested, and seizure of more than 4,475 pounds of cocaine, according to the Coast Guard.
In the Caribbean, the U.S. has Coast Guard cutters similar to the Hamilton, but also other U.S. Navy vessels that I believe would have permitted seizure of the five speedboats that instead were blown up. While the first Caribbean-located speedboat destroyed September 1, was moving, perhaps heading back to where it came from, videos of the next four that were destroyed showed they were not moving in the water before they were struck and exploded.
Why had those four stopped?
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Last Thursday, Defense Secretary Hegseth announced a sixth strike, this time against a slow-moving semi-submersible submarine-type boat used by narco-traffickers in both the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
On Friday, in an Oval Office press availability, President Trump said, “We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs.” The semi-submersible was destroyed, but while two crew members were killed, two survived.
Here I should note that under Operation Pacific Viper, the Coast Guard has also released recent video showing its personnel capturing a semi-submersible narco-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific, arresting its crew and seizing its drugs.
On Friday, President Trump tried to rationalize the Caribbean policy of blowing up narco-trafficking vessels, with no mention that in the eastern Pacific under Operation Pacific Viper similar narco-traffickers are stopped, boarded, crews arrested and drugs seized.
Trump on Friday defended the Caribbean destruction/killing policy saying, “We had tremendous amounts coming in by boats, by very expensive boats. You know, they have a lot of money, very fast, very expensive boats that were pretty big. And the way you look at it is every boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives. So every time you see a boat [destroyed] and you feel badly, you say, ‘Wow, that’s rough.’ It is rough. But if you lose three people and save 25,000 people — these are people that are killing our population. Every boat is saving 25,000 lives.”
On the other hand, Rear Adm. Jeffrey Novak, deputy commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area, whose Operation Pacific Viper since August has carried out 34 interdictions and arrested 86 suspected narco-traffickers, said last Tuesday, “Our maritime fighting force is scouring drug smuggling routes in the eastern Pacific and dismantling narco-terrorist networks. We are complementing the Coast Guard’s unique law enforcement authorities with cutting-edge capabilities to stop the flow of deadly drugs that threaten U.S. communities.”
Why a killing policy in the Caribbean and an interdiction policy in the eastern Pacific?
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On Thursday, the same day that Secretary Hegseth announced the striking of the semi-submersible, Adm. Alvin Holsey, commander of SOUTHCOM, unexpectedly announced he was retiring after less than a year into what normally is a three-to-four year assignment. Holsey gave no reason.
However, The New York Times reported last Thursday that one current and one former U.S. official said Adm. Holsey “had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats.”
The Trump administration has argued that drug cartels are Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Transnational Criminal Organizations and it is the policy of the U.S. “to ensure the total elimination of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States,” according to an Executive Order signed by President Trump on January 20, 2025.
This has led to the Trump administration’s legal justification for using military force against narco-traffickers in the Caribbean, classifying them as “unlawful combatants.” This policy shift has been highly controversial and has triggered debate among lawmakers and legal experts.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), appearing Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation, said, “This [Caribbean] operation, which is clearly, traditionally a law enforcement operation, now escalating to something maybe, as the President talks about, regime change. I think this is the wrong move for this President. The Coast Guard has the resources to do this.”
A Navy pilot for more than 20 years who flew 39 combat missions during Desert Storm, and later three space flights as a NASA astronaut, Kelly added, “I do worry about the legal authorities or lack thereof that the United States military has to conduct these kinds of strikes… Those admirals and generals, they need to speak truth to power. I have had conversations with the most senior members of our military about this specific thing. They cannot be breaking the law.”
Kelly went on, “[It] doesn’t matter if the President or the Secretary of Defense tells them to do something. If it’s against the law, they have to say no. They’re not required to follow an unlawful order. So we expect that from them.”
When it came to Adm. Holsey’s surprise retirement, Kelly said, “I don’t know the exact circumstances, why the admiral quit. He hasn’t said publicly yet. I expect, in time, we’re going to find out more.”
Let us hope so, from Adm. Holsey or some other military personnel involved in the Caribbean killing operations.
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